With India battling a horrific second wave of the Covid-19 infections, questions now have been raised whether the country would be able to host the T20 World Cup (October 18-November 13) later this year.

And the UAE, according to reports in foreign media, would be the ideal country to rescue the event if staging a World Cup in India amid the unprecedented health crisis becomes an arduous challenge for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

While the BCCI has maintained that the ongoing 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will continue despite concerns from several foreign players, hosting an event as big as the T20 World Cup could be a massive challenge for India if the Covid-19 situation doesn’t improve significantly in the next three-four months.

Compared to the eight-team IPL tournament, the T20 World Cup will see the participation of 16 international teams.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is closely monitoring the situation in India.

Earlier, Geoff Allardice, the interim CEO of the ICC, said the game’s governing body had backup plans for the T20 World Cup this year.

"Yes, we have (back-up plans)," Allardice had said. "But at this stage we haven't activated those plans, because we are preparing to go ahead with the event in India as scheduled.

"We're working with the BCCI and different elements of that event at the moment, but we do have back-up plans that can be activated when the time's right."

There has been no comment from the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) on whether the ICC and the BCCI have asked them to be ready for the event.

The UAE hosted the 2020 IPL after a disturbing rise in coronavirus cases in India last year forced the BCCI to bring their money-spinning league to these shores.

The BCCI and all the stake-holders later paid glowing tribute to the UAE for successfully hosting their biggest event across three stadiums – Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Zayed Cricket Stadium (Abu Dhabi) and the Sharjah Cricket Stadium – in a safe environment.

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